SF Chronicle Datebook – Spirit & Bones Conjures Women’s Power

Spirit & Bones conjures women’s power in SF show

Claudia Bauer | October 11, 2018

Dance makers want to reflect the zeitgeist in their productions. But every so often the planets align, and a long-planned work ends up tapping the cultural climate so aptly that it doubles as a rallying cry. When San Francisco choreographer Sarah Bush began creating “Spirit & Bones,” an evening-length work focused on female resilience and tenacity in trying times, she could not have foreseen the atmosphere we now find ourselves in. But here we are, and Bush’s prescient response premieres Oct. 26.

Bush is a hopeful and upbeat artist, focused on illumination rather than rumination, and inspiration rather than coercion. Those qualities imbue “Spirit’s” choreography and its 15 dancers, a multigenerational group that includes Anne Bluethenthal, Richelle Donigan, Laura Elaine Ellis, Joanna Haigood, Courtney King, Joan Lazarus, Sue Li Jue and Frances Sedayao. The eclectic rock-funk fusion quintet Skip the Needle wrote the score and will play live.